. . . which it took them 37 cents to send. They also sent me a notice that if I don’t pay the “outstanding balance” on the account within 30 days, they will charge me a late fee of $5 per month.
I’m seriously thinking about sending them a nickel, four pennies, and a tube of KY jelly. Any other ideas?
I once received a bill for $.01 from a doctor’s office. So I taped a penny to the bill and sent it back.
They were so embarrassed, they spent the $$ for yet another stamp to send me my penny back with an apology. Frankly, I thought it was well worth wasting the stamps on!
Nine one-cent stamps …
… glued to a 3x5 card inside the envelope.
I’ve had a couple of bills for small amounts like that - usually on phone or electricity accounts. I just pay them like other bills, via direct transfer from my bank account. The effort involved is the same whether it’s a small or a large sum.
Call them and let them know. I had a bank debt in the pennies and they cleared it after I let them know. Or they could at least apply it to the next bill.
On the other hand, MCI billed me for a very small amount, and they not only sent me the notice and an overdue notice (I was waiting for my next invoice to pay it), they also had two different people call me about it. They paid WAY more than the bill to collect their tiny amount. It didn’t surprise me in the least that they went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Did they send it from the past? First-class postage is at 39 cents, and about to raise to 41 cents in a couple weeks. 
Well of course they sent it from the past. They couldn’t have sent it from the future.
(Or maybe they did, and we’ve just learned that the price of stamps dropped.)
My cell phone provider threatened to shut off both of my cell phones if I did not pay my net-30 balance of just over $3. I received four automatic text messages over four days about it. Not quite as ridiculous as owing just pennies, but come on – someone seems to really need their latte.
I once got a phone bill from Telstra for $0.41. I called them up and pointed out that it had cost them more in postage, printing, and paper to send me this bill than the amount owing on it. The nice Telstra lady on the other end of the phone had a good laugh with me, then credited the amount owing on the bill so that I didn’t have to pay it.
I cite this as evidence that Telstra aren’t totally evil. 
Send them a dime, and ask for the change.
I just received a check for twenty cents from Principal Group as some sort of dividend/tax refund thing. I would have appreciated it more if they had combined it with the thirty nine cents from the stamp and added it to my IRA.
I get stuff like that all the time. The way my bill paying is set up, if I don’t make a payment to a certain place each month, they get dropped from my list. It takes time to re-enter the store into the system, so I just make a payment of .01 each month that I don't have a real balance. Every 3 months or so, Mervyn's will cut me a check for .03 rather than just let it ride as a credit in their system. Ditto Shell Oil.
Back in college, my phone company (a pay-only-what-you-use long distance service) once miscredited a check I’d written for three cents less than the amount of the bill. Next month, I get a bill for three cents. I laughed it off.
Next month, I get another bill. This time, it’s a harshly worded warning that I have been penalized ten cents! In addition to the three cents I already owe! And I’d better pay up, or else!
Clearly, they meant business. I wrote a check for “Zero and 13/100 dollars” and mailed it to them.
And your credit score dropped 100 points.
The reason they send this is typical of institutions these days. A $5 fee each month until you pay it. They thrive on penelty fees. 37 cents postage is a good gamble for them.
Yea, no shit! The higher percentage rate on a car or home purchase will be significant. That 3 cents could end up costing him thousands! I wouldn’t laugh off any bill I get in the mail. I call the company and get it taken care of!
You’re probably right, although sometimes I’m sure it’s just stupidity. There have been cases here where utilities have sent people bills for $0.00. One guy I remember reading about in the paper, decided to pay this just for laughs. So he wrote a cheque for Zero Dollars and Zero Cents, and posted it along with a note demanding a receipt. He duly received the receipt a few days later.
As a postal employee, I can tell you large organisations (or the minimum wage grunts in their mail rooms) do some astoundingly dumb things. We get so many letters with addresses like…
John Citizen
123 Sample Street
Sampletown
or
David Thompson
do not post
DO NOT POST
…that we barely even notice them. A local water utility is famously fond of sending out multiple bills. I remember one guy getting seventeen of them on the same day.
I get credit card statements all the time that say I owe them zero dollars.
I don’t see anything wrong with it.
When you are sending out thousands of bills it’s more trouble to try and filter out the small amounts than it’s worth. Postage cost is not the only thing to consider. You would have to design a system that recognizes what amount isn’t worth billing for (9 cents? 20 cents? 40 cents? Do you adjust the cut-off point when postage costs change?) It makes more sense just to bill everyone who owes you anything. Billing systems cost money. The more complex it is, the more it costs.
I’d bet that they paid neither 37, 39, or 41 cents. I don’t have any of my current bills with me, but I’d wager the hefty sum that Jodi owes that I’ve never seen an actual stamp on any bill, ever. As utility companies most likely send out more than one bill per day, I’d think that they get some sort of bulk rate.
Actually, looking up the policy, I have no idea if they get the discount rate at all. This may be a good GQ topic.
Ditto what Lionel said, and I’m pretty sure the utility company isn’t indiviually licking and stamping it’s bills, either. It’;s all automatic. It’s not like there’s an employee laughing maniacally at the thought of billing someone for a penny.